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Eliza Ingram (c1837-1903)
}} Eliza is first found in the 1841 census at Newtown at the age of 4 years with her grandarents John Ingram (c1766-1847) and Susannah Morgan (c1773-1844), her mother Ann Ingram (1811-1867) and elder sister Susan Ingram (c1834-1847), her aunt Mary Ann Ingram (1814-1895), and a nurse-child Mary Welch from Ireland aged 7 months. Not recorded in the census was her cousin John Ingram who was nearly 2 years old, the son of her aunt Mary Ann. Eliza, her elder sister Susan, and her cousin John were all illegitimate. Her grandfather worked as a carpenter, but was incorrectly recorded in the census as a labourer. Eliza's grandmother died in January 1844, her elder sister Susan died in August 1847 at the age of 13, and her grandfather died in October 1847. Eliza's mother married John Lewis in 1848 when Eliza was about 11 years old. Eliza arrived in Melbourne, Australia at the age of 19 aboard the "Themis" on 25 Jul 1857. She was accompanied by her uncle Edward Ingram (1816-1860) and his wife Eliza who had been in England and Wales visiting family. Her uncle had originally immigrated to Victoria in about 1837 at about the age of 20. Her uncle had married her aunt in Melbourne in 1847. Eliza's other uncle John Ingram (1806-1841) had been sent to New South Wales as a convict, a political prisioner, in 1840. He had died in New South Wales in 1841. After Eliza arrived in Melbourne the next person in the family to arrive was her cousin John Ingram who, since his mother Mary Ann had married Joseph Hallows in 1843 in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, had been known as John Ingram Hallows (1839-1906) and had then been raised by Joseph Hallows as his son. He arrived less than 3 months after Eliza on 17 Oct 1857 on the "Florence Nightingale". Eliza's aunt Mary Ann and her husband Joseph Hallows then arrived in Melbourne nearly 9 months later on 2 June 1858 aboard the "Winefred". In December 1860 Eliza's uncle Edward Ingram died in Melbourne. His death was registered by Eliza's aunt Mary Ann who stated that their parent's were John Ingram, carpenter, and Susan. In November 1863 Eliza's cousin John Ingram Hallows married at Kew, Melbourne. In December 1864 Eliza herself married Joseph Wood at Hawthorn, Melbourne. Part of the records for marriages maintained in Victoria at that time was a record of parents, and for the mother a record of her maiden name. Too embarassed to admit that she was illegitimate she stated that her father was John Ingram, carpenter, who was actually her grandfather. She stated that her mother was Ann Ingram. Eliza also said that was born in Newtown, Montgomeryshire, and that she was 23 years old when she was in fact 27 years old. Joseph Wood was 21 years old. Joseph Wood was a brickmaker by trade, and soon after their marriage Eliza moved with Joseph to the brick-making centre of St Peters, Sydney, New South Wales. On 12 October 1865 Eliza's first child Margaret Harriet Elizabeth Wood was born at St Peters. Eliza was later to receive word that her cousin John Ingram Hallows first child, Mary Frances Hallows, had been born the next day, 13 October 1865, in Hawthorn, Melbourne. Eliza was to go on to give birth to 6 more children in New South Wales, 3 or whom were to predecease her. In 1867 Eliza's mother was to die in Wales. Before 1871 Eliza's aunt Mary Ann was to move back to England, and before 1881 her cousin John Ingram Hallows was also to move back to England with the 2 eldest of his 3 children and live with his widowed mother. His marriage had broken up and his youngest son remained in Victoria with his mother. In December 1882 Eliza's eldest child Margaret Harriet Elizabeth Wood married, and Eliza was to become a grandmother less than 7 months later. In 1891 her daughter Anna Eliza Wood (ka Dolly) married. In 1893 her daughter Florence Miriam Wood married. In 1895 Eliza's aunt Mary Ann was to die in England. In 1896 her son George Wood and her daughter Alice Amelia Wood both married. The time of the deaths of 2 of Eliza's children is unknown. It is known, however, that her daughter Anna (ka Dolly) died in 1902 after the birth of her 8th child. On 12 July 1803 Eliza died at Gilgai near Inverell in New South Wales. At the time of her death at about the age of 66 she was a grandmother of 29. The final count of grandchildren was to be 42. Her husband Joseph Wood registered Eliza's death stating that she had arrived in Victoria in 1857, and moved to New South Wales in 1865. He said that her father was John Ingram, plumber and glazier, and her mothe was Mary Clark. During their marriage Eliza always maintained that she was only a couple of years older than her husband and never told her husband her correct age. As a result he showed her as being only 63 years old. During her life-time Eliza either never told her husband that she was illegitimate, or asked him to keep it a secret. This then which explains why he showed her father's name as John Ingram, when John Ingram was really her grandfather. John Ingram was a carpenter. The confusion over John Ingram's occupation came from the occupation of Eliz'a uncle Edward Ingram who was a plumber and glazier. The confusion over her mother's name came from Eliza's aunt Mary Ann. It is not known why Joseph thought that Eliza's mother's maiden name was Clark.